HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA.....

OUR AMERICA
Weekly devotional by Barbara Sanders

Deuteronomy 4:7 "For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?"
We call her “America, the Beautiful”, land of the free and home of the brave.

1. I remember Lady Bird Johnson on her drive to “Beautify America”. She truly believed that America was a beautiful place in which to live, to bring up our children, and she wanted others to see what she saw within our great nation. She strived to have the roadways beautified, and America, as a whole, cleaned to perfection. Did she make it?

2. We are called the 'land of the free'. Our freedom is slowly but surely being eroded, and so quietly, that most of the public doesn't realize how many freedoms he or she has already lost. The government, which is to be 'by the people, for the people', has become so large, that it's mostly bigwigs working for interest groups. The individual American has gotten lost in the shuffle. We elect the representatives of the people to vote our conscience, only to have them cave into the big interest groups.

3. And, to the part about the “home of the brave”; just how brave are we? We owe a debt to those of our society who served in all the Wars for the freedom of our country. They will forever be esteemed in high regard. But, as a whole, we have lost lots of our bravery. We didn't stand up against poverty, and passed the Welfare bill. America should have been helping her own to get out of poverty, rather than making a way out of working for some.. Many needed the help at the time, but we shouldn’t be footing the bill for life.

Then, along came the adversity to school prayer; actually, it was adversity to God, Himself - let's face it! Did we open our mouths and make ourselves known? No, we kept our lips tight, and God was removed from the schools, resulting in what you now know as the fight for 'separation of church and state'. Folks, I'm here to tell you that we didn't only separate 'church and state'; we separated God from the children that we so dearly love! Many of our children will never hear the Word - many will never dart in the door of a church. Now, we have come to the point where, if you say that you 'ask God to help' you through all your problems in life, work, etc., then you have overstepped your boundaries, and are no longer fit to occupy a government job! I ask you, people, when are these atrocities going to stop, and we put GOD back in HIS place?

In one song, it speaks of "God shed His grace on thee". How long do you think that GOD is going to freely pour His Grace on a nation that has repeatedly turned their backs on Him? Does He have to give us grace of mercy? Law hasn't been made and can't be made that would put God as one disobeying LAW, if he chose fit to not display the grace and mercy that we have so long expected of Him. I believe He will certainly let grace and mercy flow freely to 'his people', but perhaps not to the nation as a whole, unless we conform our belief in ONE GOD, by returning to 'His laws' and obeying those commandments. He's a just God, but One with Whom it doesn't pay to play around.

God asked, many times, in the Bible, "How long"? To Pharaoh - 'how long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?' To Moses, 'how long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws'? 'How long will your people continue to provoke me?' To the people of America, He is probably saying, "How long"?

Heavenly Father, how long will You let this nation escape, unless it returns to You? Help us, as a nation, realize that only through You will we gain back that which we have lost, the respect that we once had from all nations. Help us to become truly America, the land of the free! In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.